On 23 October 2011 13:47, mikshaw <mrb...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Claiming a person's freedoms are decided by their ability to obtain those > freedoms? Very wrong. Just as laws against slavery are there to balance the > freedoms of all, GPL is there to balance the freedoms of all users & devs, > present and future.
In the real world a person's freedoms are very much decided by their ability to obtain those freedoms. That might not fall in line with your moralistic ideologies, but it is reality. The GPL is nothing more than Richard Stallman's highly encumbered temper-tantrum against propriety software, it has almost nothing to do with true freedom. The GPL is to propriety licenses what communism is to capitalism. It values the community over the individual, and protects the interests of the community at the cost of the individual. True freedom can only exist at the individual level, because once you introduce the interests of others you introduce restrictions. That isn't to say that the interests of others are not important of course, but to claim that the GPL is about freedom is just plain bull. The restriction of freedom is a necessity for the GPL to achieve its purpose, enforced sharing. Al.